Wheels Still in Spin, 2011

A typical day of mine has moments of painting in my studio encircled by my work in the community. I teach art in the juvenile hall and at low-income housing in Palo Alto, and I have a studio — ART FOR WELL BEINGS — where I teach people with developmental disabilities. I also work for Golden Acrylics — the top of the line artist paint — and present to painters in our area how to use all the many products Golden offers.

I present art exercises to a range of people and then I nestle in and transmit all the influences to my own art practice.

“Wheels Still in Spin” is an ode to our times. This painting began with a query about the changing climate of our work force. The thought is that we are moving from a lifetime employment to project-based work. You can still see the “t” from the word project arising in the upper right corner. During the course of creating this painting, I was listening to Bob Dylan’s “Times They Are A-changin,’” and thinking of how we are evolving. Mid-painting, Steve Jobs passed away and I learned that Dylan was Jobs’ favorite musician. This synchronicity is one of the fantastic byproducts of my career.

There are stories behind each painting. My paintings tend to take time to arrive. They age, mature, change and develop at their own pace and
are finished when and only when they are ready.

Pinball 2011

In the painting “Pinball,” my cat is shown with strong eye contact and a body contorted as only a cat can do. I interviewed Pinball on my TV show, ART FOR WELL BEINGS, and you can watch her on episode # 13: Cats and Caves.
I invite and welcome your responses.
—Judy Gittelsohn

Mudra, 2011 72 x 79

Come see Judy’s work at Han Bistro in Palo Alto.  In addition, her paintings are displayed at University Art in Palo Alto, Metropolitan Transportation Commission in Oakland, and Pho 69 in San Jose.